This post was originally published on this site.

Hey everybody,

It’s the second Tuesday of Easter, and you’re reading The Tuesday Pillar Post.

Look, I know what you want me to write about. And I’ll get there. But we’re going to do first things first today, and maybe that’s all in God’s providence.

So let me tell you that today is the feast of Blessed Peter Gonzalez.

Peter — who is sometimes called Elmo — was born into a noble Spanish family in 1190, which means he was just nine years younger than St. Francis.

But Peter’s young life was even more privileged than that of Francis.

Peter was well-educated, raised for leadership, taught horsemanship and swordplay and culture and languages. He spent a couple of years sowing wild oats, as rich young men sometimes do. And then his uncle — a powerful and connected Spanish bishop — told Peter to settle down, get ordained, and become a canon in the cushy cathedral of Palencia.

He was too young to be a cathedral canon, but his uncle pulled some strings, aiming to set Peter up for a life of comfortable ecclesial nobility. His uncle hung benefices around his neck, and aimed to get him a gig in a royal or noble

Read more...